The present invention relates generally to video games and, more particularly, to a graphical control of a time-based set-up feature for a video game.
Video games are played in a variety of environments such as game rooms, hotel lobbies, and casinos. In some environments, adult video games are played. However, operators generally like to control the times at which certain features in video games are activated. For example, adult strip poker games may have a variety of modes including bikini, topless and nude. As their names suggest, in bikini mode the video representation will strip to his/her bikini, in topless mode the video representation will strip off his/her top and in nude mode the video representation will strip off all of his/her cloths. Operators have typically only been able to control whether a feature is on or off during a particular time period each day. For example, prior video games only allowed an operator to turn on the nude mode once per day between, e.g, 10 pm and 2 am. They would not allow the operator the ability to select multiple time periods during which, e.g., nude mode was on. For example, an operator could not turn the nude mode on between 8 pm-10 pm; 11 pm-2 am; and 3 am-5 am. Similarly, the other modes of operation were limited to one xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d time period.
Similarly, operators have typically only been able to control the magnitude of a parameter for a certain time period. For example, prior video games only allowed an operator to adjust (increase) the volume of a video game for one time period, e.g., between 10 pm and 2 am.
Accordingly, there is a need for graphically controlling a time-based set-up feature for a video game such that an operator can easily select multiple xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d time periods for each of several modes of operation and/or select one or more magnitudes for one or more time periods. The present invention is directed to addressing one or more of these needs.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a graphical control of a time-based set-up feature for a video game. The graphical control including a graphical interface for visually displaying a plurality of symbols of the set-up feature along a first axis and a plurality of time periods along a second axis. The graphical control further including a selector for interacting with the graphical interface to select one or more of the symbols during one or more of the time periods.